nomadic mountain range,
sea of earth-shuddering currents,
profuse vegetation of gnarled fur�
giants who intoned like thunder
with communal hooves,
and carved unbounded trails
in mammalian rivers,

they never learned the diplomacy
of linear greed, never
pilfered the ground like a lattice;
and so barbed wire dismembered
their collective body
with techniques that disgusted
thistles and thorns.

each heroic leg
was chopped from the others.
the robust bosom
and the wind-strong abdomen
were quartered and drawn;
mineral brown eyes
and virile crescent horns
were ripped from the bearded crown.

the steel-divided soul
was carved with lead
into a pimpling of matted corpses�
as if each cell
of the prairie�s shaggy heart
had been skewered,
as if the flesh-like land
had been stabbed into pustules
of useless meat.

there were no more chants
to praise the buffalo,
no more masks in their name.
the people who worshipped them
muttered in gulches,
praying that a crucifix would not brand
their children�s throats.



�2006 by Chris Crittenden
~Originally Published in Ellipsis